NC State upsets North Carolina, clinching a Virginia Tech vs. Clemson ACC Championship

NC State surprised North Carolina with a 28-21 win in Chapel Hill on Friday, eliminating the Tar Heels in the ACC Coastal and clinching the division for Virginia Tech. The Hokies will play Atlantic champion Clemson in Orlando next Saturday (8 p.m. ET, ABC).

NC State jumped to a stunning 21-0 first-half lead. The Heels pushed back after that and made things interesting, but they drained the clock in the final minutes and didn’t give themselves a serious chance to finish a three-touchdown comeback. It was a lousy finish for a UNC team that could’ve locked in a nine-win season.

The biggest winner here is Virginia Tech, whose rivalry game against downtrodden UVA on Saturday now means pretty close to nothing. Because Virginia Tech isn’t ticketed for the Playoff anyway, the UVA game is now about marginal positioning. The Hokies are going to be fairly massive underdogs against Clemson, but it’s a smashing success for them to even reach the title game in Justin Fuente’s first year in Blacksburg.

NC State head coach Dave Doeren came into the weekend on what seems like at least a lukewarm seat, and securing bowl eligibility should cool that down some. The Wolfpack still finished just 3-5 in the conference and really didn’t have much of a season. But beating a pretty good version of your rival on the road isn’t a bad way to close things out. They came close to giving it up, but they didn’t, and that’s what counts. It’s a big win for NCSU, if not as big as it is for Virginia Tech.

UNC finishes the regular season 8-4, marking a second straight strong season under Larry Fedora. This one just won’t go down as well as it could’ve, and it ended on just about as sour a note as possible.